From: Susan Daugherty <kdaugherty>
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 1998 17:05:04 -0500

If Marc is right, that is a very counter-intuitive thought. I teach kids up to age 7 and there are many of them who seem to be little old men or teenagers in short bodies. They like to read books that are quite a bit above them in "interest level," "developmental level," or whatever you want to call it. I try to interest them in books that I think they would like, but they seem to want more sophisticated fare. I don't remember being like that at their age. I could decode those hard books, but they didn't interest me. For you in publishing, you must have heard librarians like me complaining about the elementary students who insist on reading Stephen King when there is a whole library full of wonderful books that are beneath them, they think. Obviously this is just a small group of kids, but when you realize that the good readers are already a small selection of the possible readers of books, it sort of worries me to think, "How many kids are actually reading the great literature for kids and young adults?" I think that it's not that many. Well, I just hope it's enough to keep the publishers going. Since bookstores are proliferating, things can't be that bad, I suppose.

Susan Daugherty kdaugherty at madison.k12.wi.us


Susan Daugherty Librarian Franklin Elementary School Madison, WI 53505

kdaugherty at madison.k12.wi.us
Received on Tue 23 Jun 1998 05:05:04 PM CDT